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USDUNPS NRHP Registration Form Jungle Trail Indian River County, Florida Page 12 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section 8 Page 6 (Narrative Summary of Significance, Continued) Another 1928 newspaper account relates that the"highway"to Sebastian Inlet was nearly complete, stating: The county road department grader and leveler is making good progress building up the grade for the new county road being built on the peninsula northward from the Wabasso bridge to the north county line, a distance of four and one-half miles. When this section of road is completed a fine driveway will be created from the Vero Beach bridge to within two miles of the Sebastian Inlet [Anonymous 1928:1]. In 1931. Chapter 15648, Laws of Florida designated the portion of the island road south from the Wabasso Beach Road as a state road (Florida State Legislature 1931:1145-1147; Florida State Road Department 1931:24-25). This designation was extended to include the island road north of Wabasso Beach Road in 1935 by Chapter 17315, Laws of Florida (Florida State Legislature 1935:1225; Florida State Road Department 1939:41). Construction of the northern segment had occurred slowly during the depression years of 1930-1935. Funding from regular and emergency federal highway funds may have been used to complete the road, which, by 1937, was labeled on State Road Department maps as State Road 252 (Florida State Road Department 1937; also see Florida State Road Department 1933:48-50; 1939:41). As the road construction progressed in the 1930s the northern "jog" in Section 15 was eliminated, with the actual road constructed along the edge of Spratt Creek. This new alignment is contrary to the original 1920 description of the proposed route and the early maps of the county from 1925, 1926 and 1928 (discussed above). The original plan utilized existing farm road routes and kept the road away from the wetlands bordering the lagoon and creek. The wetlands to the east of the new alignment were drained and the land added to the county tax rolls by 1936 (Clarkson 1936). The acreage of the government lots (Nos. 3, 4, 9, 10) in Section 15 acquired by Milton E. Card in 1885 differs from the acreage of the same area surveyed in 1963 by 14 to 20 acres, suggesting that at least this much land had been converted from federally owned wetlands to taxable uplands (Stanbridge 1990). Controversy arose in the 1960s over the ownership of these wetlands bordering the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. Though the road was located within the meander line delineated on the 1859 plat, a new survey was ordered and the State of Florida Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund and the federal government settled the land dispute (Bureau of Land Management 1963, 1965). It is tempting to speculate that the unauthorized route through the wetlands was chosen during road construction due to the discovery of Indian shell middens that could be used for building up and surfacing the new road. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey(1930a, 1930b)T-sheets, prepared from 1928 aerial photos, are quite interesting. These detailed maps show the progress of road construction as it stood in 1928 (Figure 6). All three bridges linking to the mainland are shown, and the southern portion of the road, which followed the older Orchid-Narrows Road, was complete. North of the Wabasso Bridge Road the jogs through the citrus groves are shown and it is quite clear that the original, planned route followed existing trails, since the third and northernmost jog is shown. The final mile of the road is not shown. By 1935, the final mile of the barrier island road was completed (State Road 252)and reached the Indian River/Brevard County line to joined with a smaller sand track that led to Sebastian Inlet, a popular fishing spot with a small village of cabins belonging to local residents and tourists (Figure 7). During World War 11, the Sebastian Inlet was allowed to close because of a lack of manpower and money to provide dredging and appropriate control structures, as well as a fear that German U-boats might use the inlet in an invasion. Military bases at Vero Beach and Ft. Pierce used the island road to practice landings and war games on the beaches north of the county line. Residents of Indian River County were able to travel all the way to Melbourne Beach"if they used the right tires"while the inlet was closed (Otto Roach, personal communication, 1987). Mr. Roach provided oblique aerial photographs taken of the area circa 1935, including images of the newly built Jungle Trail, the inlet fishing village, and hurricane damage to the structures of the fishing hamlet (see Photographs 7 and 8).